Fan Expo Boston Officially Returns With Its Biggest Lineup Yet
The East Coast is about to have a big weekend for all things pop culture. While fans in Roanoke, Virginia, will get to celebrate the return of Big Lick Comic Con with some of its biggest guests and panels yet, Fan Expo Boston is also set to kick off just a little further North in Beantown with its usual slew of attractions for all manner of entertainment enjoyers. Described as “a large playground for all fans of comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming,” the latest event on FAN EXPO HQ’s calendar is locked in for a record-breaking attendance this year as locals and others from across the country descend upon the Thomas Michael Menino Convention & Exhibition Center for three days of community and embracing passions. It’ll all begin tomorrow, August 7, when doors open at 4 p.m., followed by two full days of activity through August 9.
Fan Expo Boston has a long history of hosting fan-favorite stars from across film, television, video games, comics, anime, and more, and this year will be no exception. Among the headliners making an appearance will be one of the city’s own, Chris Evans, for a meet-and-greet ahead of his return as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday in December. The convention center will also be taken over by hobbits, as much of the cast of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy assembles for a special evening and an unexpected breakfast with the fans. The panels, however, are the main attraction for answers to burning questions and behind-the-scenes insights, and Collider’s Steve Weintraub will be there to moderate a handful of exciting get-togethers.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
The Matrix
Mad Max
Blade Runner
Dune
Star Wars
TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.
APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it.
BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don’t keep you alive.
CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who’s pulling the strings.
DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it.
EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can’t fix a broken galaxy alone.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don’t need resources — you can generate them.
BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it.
CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity.
DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on.
EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant.
BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left.
CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you’re a problem, you’re already out of time.
DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn’t even know I was playing.
EThe Empire tightening its grip until there’s nowhere left to run.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it.
BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better.
CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy.
DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can’t beat a system you refuse to understand.
EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters.
BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest.
CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions.
DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand.
EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire’s attention rarely reaches.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
AA tight crew of believers who’ve seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose.
BOne or two people I’d trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks.
CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice.
DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last.
EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
AI won’t harm the innocent — even the ones who’d report me without hesitation.
BI do what I have to to protect the people I’ve chosen. Everything else is negotiable.
CThe line shifts depending on who’s asking and what’s at stake.
DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people’s future, even if it’d help now.
ESome lines, once crossed, can’t be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it.
BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving.
CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out.
DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations.
EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else’s boot.
REVEAL MY WORLD →
Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
The Casts of ‘Smallville’ and Star Trek Reunite in Boston on Saturday
First up on Saturday at 11 a.m. is a CW classic — Smallville. Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Erica Durance, and Michael Rosenbaum will all be on hand to look back on the ten-season run of the superheroic teen drama and answer questions about Clark and his friends’ journeys from Season 1 through the end of the show in 2011. Though it’s been off the air for 15 years now, it’s still widely beloved for how it showed the morals and upbringing that made Clark Kent into Superman and how he forged his greatest relationships, from his timeless love of Lois Lane to his bitter rivalry with Lex Luthor. Afterward, at 1:30 p.m., the trio of Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, and Brent Spiner will beam onto the main stage for a discussion of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Expect an insightful conversation with Starfleet’s greatest crew as they reflect not just on the sci-fi series, but the enduring power of the franchise as a whole on its 60th anniversary. Following the group panels are two individual Q&As with individuals from vastly different worlds. Prolific director and actor Mel Gibson will first take the main stage at 4 p.m. for a conversation about his wide-ranging career, from Braveheart to Mad Max and beyond. He remains a presence in Hollywood to this day, most recently appearing in the action survival thriller Hunting Season and helming last year’s Flight Risk and recently finishing filming on The Resurrection of the Christ. To close out the day, Christopher Judge, best known as the voice of God of War’s Kratos, will sit down with Weintraub at 6 p.m. to go in-depth about PlayStation’s premiere God-slaying action games. Judge took over as the Dad of War for the Norse mythology-centric reboot of the series in 2018 and hasn’t looked back, becoming a fan-favorite as Kratos has evolved from a vengeful deity to a more human being through fighting the gods of Asgard and journeying with his son, Atreus. He’s also soon set to return to the franchise next year, albeit not as the playable character in the spin-off God of War: Laufey.
Sunday Brings ‘The Boys,’ ‘The Goonies,’ and ‘Lost’ to the Stage
Sunday, meanwhile, is for The Boys. Specifically, Weintraub will start the day at 11:30 a.m. by hosting a stacked panel from Prime Video’s smash-hit superhero series featuring Karl Urban, Erin Moriarty, Karen Fukuhara, Colby Minifie, Cameron Crovetti, Valorie Curry, and Laz Alonso. Fans will be able to pick their brains on how Eric Kripke brought the comic book adaptation to a violent close and all the memories they have from building the phenomenon over the past seven years. Going from a streaming favorite to an 80s classic, Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, and Martha Plimpton will reunite to share stories from working together on The Goonies. Richard Donner and Chris Columbus’ imaginative adventure flick recently celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, and news broke that a script for a sequel is in the works, which means there’s no better time to dig back into the original and the behind-the-scenes magic that made it. Astin’s fellow Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan isn’t just at Fan Expo for Middle-earth, either, as he’ll also be a part of the Lost reunion panel at 2:15 p.m. with Josh Holloway, Henry Ian Cusick, and François Chau. It’s been over two decades since the ABC series premiered and mystified viewers, and the cast will be there to answer any burning questions fans may have years after everyone left the island for good. Finally, at 3:15 p.m., Weintraub will speak with James Marsters about his iconic role as the once-villainous blonde British vampire Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and how the love of the Buffy-verse hasn’t waned over the years. Their conversations will also touch on the expansive career the actor has built since then, from playing another famous villain in Smallville to voice-acting in Dragon Ball Super and joining Marvel’s Runaways.
Fan Expo Boston August 7 through 9 at the Thomas Michael Menino Convention & Exhibition Center. Visit the official website for information on all of the attractions and guests heading to the convention this weekend, and stay tuned here at Collider for coverage from the panels.
Release Date
2001 – 2011-00-00
Network
The WB, The CW
Showrunner
Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Brian Peterson, Kelly Souders, Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer
Directors
Mike Rohl, Jeannot Szwarc, Glen Winter, Terrence O’Hara, Whitney Ransick, Mairzee Almas, Paul Shapiro, Rick Rosenthal, David Carson, James L. Conway, Chris Long, Michael Katleman, Morgan Beggs, Allison Mack, David Barrett, Marita Grabiak, Michael W. Watkins, Philip Sgriccia, Rick Wallace, Thomas J. Wright, Todd Slavkin, Brad Turner, Charles Beeson, Craig Zisk
Writers
Steven S. DeKnight, Holly Henderson, Don Whitehead, Caroline Dries, Mark Verheiden, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Philip Levens, Jordan Hawley, Kenneth Biller, Michael Green, Drew Z. Greenberg, Geoff Johns, John Chisholm, Drew Landis, Julia Swift, Doris Egan, Tracy Bellomo, Garrett Lerner, Greg Walker, Russel Friend, Shintaro Shimosawa, Tim Schlattmann, todd helbing
تم النشر: 2026-08-06 22:45:00
مصدر: collider.com
